Sports
Travis Hunter effect is alive in the 2025 college football season
Utah‘s mission to reboot its offense started with adding a quarterback-coordinator combination from New Mexico, as Devon Dampier and Jason Beck made their way to Salt Lake City.
But the Utes also needed playmakers to surround Dampier. Their search led them to the transfer portal, naturally, but also to their own roster and, ultimately, to the other side of the ball.
Smith Snowden, who started at nickel in 2024 and had 10 passes defended, and linebacker Lander Barton, the team’s tackles leader in fall 2024 who had six passes defended, were the top options.
“Obviously Travis Hunter last year, the success he had, winning the Heisman [Trophy], that struck a chord with a lot of coaches, taking them through their roster: Who do we have that can contribute both ways?” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham told ESPN. “The bottom line is: What’s going to help you win games? It’s not the novelty of having a two-way guy. Who’s going to give us the best chance to win?”
Hunter’s surge to the 2024 Heisman at Colorado, while playing full time on both offense and defense, might have nudged coaches to expand their view of what was possible for the right players. Although Hunter did things not thought possible in the modern era of college football — he played 2,625 snaps in two seasons at Colorado, leading the FBS in both 2023 and 2024 — his success is already increasing opportunities for others.
Utah opened the season with a 43-10 win at UCLA, in which Snowden led the team in receiving and added a rushing touchdown while Barton caught a touchdown pass from Dampier. Safety Jackson Bennee also had a 17-yard reception. In Week 2, Snowden had two rushes, three catches and two tackles.
Your eyes do not deceive you… that is, in fact, CORNERBACK Smith Snowden scoring a rushing touchdown for @Utah_Football 👀#Big12FB | 📺 @CFBONFOX pic.twitter.com/Ih38m3CHze
— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) August 31, 2025
“Travis Hunter really set the standard for it,” Snowden said. “He opened a lot of doors for younger athletes that can’t decide if they want to play offense or defense.”
Maybe they don’t have to anymore.
The Utes’ crew is among a small but growing group of players with the license to play both ways. Minnesota sophomore Koi Perich, a first-team All-Big Ten defensive back in 2024 who also stood out on returns, is carving out a bigger role with the Gophers offense. Vanderbilt defensive back Martel Hight, an All-SEC return specialist this past season, is on a similar path as a wide receiver.
They’re all occupying expanded roles, at least in part, because of the Travis Hunter effect.
“It’s starting to open up,” Hight told ESPN. “I’m pretty sure the coaches, they see guys doing it and it probably opens their eyes.”
DURING VANDERBILT’S WINTER conditioning session, Hight was running gassers — sprints across the width of the field — when Jerry Kill, a senior offensive advisor and chief consultant to coach Clark Lea, walked over.
“[Kill] grabbed me and said, ‘Hey, you’re going to be a starting receiver for me,'” Hight said.
Hight came to Vanderbilt as an ESPN 300 recruit and the nation’s No. 33 cornerback out of Rome, Georgia. Like many high school standouts, he played both defense and offense and even faced Travis Hunter when their Georgia high schools played.
“I scored on him, ran him over, he caught a pass on me my junior year, and it was a pretty good catch,” Hight said. “We’ve always kind of had this little back and forth. It was never any trash-talking or anything. We just kept it cordial.”
Hight, however, arrived at Vanderbilt with a clear role on defense. In 2023, he became the first freshman in team history to record a pick-six. He continued to display good ball skills on defense last year, while becoming a bigger factor on punt returns, averaging 14.7 yards with a touchdown, and earning second-team All-SEC honors. After the offseason interaction with Kill, Hight emphasized his desire to play offense to the coaches, and then began running routes with starting quarterback Diego Pavia in spring practice.
“I don’t know that we had quite the idea of how dynamic he could be for us at receiver until we started playing him there and realized that he’s really natural as a pass catcher and a route runner,” Lea said. “As we got out of spring, it was, ‘Hey, let’s see how we can take this a little further.'”
Lea reached out to new Jacksonville Jaguars coach Liam Coen, who selected Hunter at No. 2 in April’s NFL draft, about how they intended to use Hunter at the pro level. Kill, who led programs at New Mexico State, Minnesota, Northern Illinois and elsewhere during a 40-year career in college football, contacted Colorado coach Deion Sanders.
“We had a basis of understanding of what he did in college, what Jacksonville’s plan was for him in training camp,” Lea said. “But everybody’s different. We’ve got to look at Martel and think about where we think he can net out here.”
Other coaches made a similar point when asked about the effect Hunter will continue to have on college football. Hunter showed what is possible when given the chance to do it all, but very few can handle anywhere near the play load he took on at Colorado. Hunter famously logged 144 snaps in his Colorado debut at TCU, and eclipsed 120 the following week against Nebraska.
“He’s an anomaly, and you’ve got to understand that that’s not doable for 99.99% of the players,” Whittingham said of Hunter. “So going both ways is a relative statement, because if you go both ways but only play a total of 65 snaps a game, then that’s a normal workload.”
The challenge, then, is figuring out what each player can handle. Snowden played 22 snaps on both defense and offense in the opener at UCLA, as well as three on special teams.
If Utah had been in a closer game, he might have been out there more. Snowden said this past season, he averaged 55-60 snaps per game, almost all on defense.
“I could get to 70 [snaps],” he told ESPN last week. “It will vary game to game. I’m a defense specialist when it comes down to it, so defense is my position, and whatever the team needs on offense, I’m down.”
THOSE ATTEMPTING TO follow Hunter’s path this season have similar profiles.
“They’re primarily defensive guys, and they play some offense,” Whittingham explained. “It’s not very common to have it go the other way.”
Hunter came into college football as ESPN’s No. 2 recruit, and the top cornerback in the 2022 class. Although he broke the Georgia high school record for receiving touchdowns with 48 and had nearly 4,000 receiving yards, he projected as a top defensive back. Despite only 18 receptions his first college season at Jackson State, Hunter saw his receiving production spike at Colorado, and won the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s top wide receiver this past season. As a high school senior, Minnesota’s Perich accounted for 27 touchdowns in 10 games — five on defense, four on returns and 16 on offense. He was rated as the top prospect from Minnesota and signed with the Gophers as the nation’s No. 172 recruit and No. 14 safety.
Perich made an immediate impact in 2024, becoming the first freshman in the FBS since at least 1976 to record five interceptions, at least 100 kickoff return yards and at least 100 punt return yards in a season. His 565 all-purpose yards, from returns and interceptions, ranked fourth on the team. As soon as the season finished, Minnesota’s coaching staff began carving out a role for Perich on offense.
Perich spent the spring working with both units, spending 70-75% of his time with the defense, but still attending some meetings with offensive coordinator Greg Harbaugh Jr. and co-coordinator Matt Simon. Through two games, Perich has two catches, five punt returns and five tackles.
“You can throw somebody out there and just throw him a deep ball and gimmick him, but is that really playing offense?” Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck told ESPN. “There’ll be certain [individual practice] periods dedicated to safety, certain periods where you come over and play wideout. He’s going to show me ultimately how much he can handle.”
Although Hunter’s talent set him apart, he also embraced the mental toil of toggling between position groups and learning as much as he could on both sides of the ball.
“There’s a burden in this with the player,” Lea said. “There’s a willingness that you don’t have any downtime in the building. You have to go all the time. He’s got to buy into that. Martel is so bright and confident on both sides, we’ve been able to really not hold back on anything.”
Syracuse coach Fran Brown recognizes the mental challenge as well, saying two-way hopefuls must learn an entire playbook and at least a few chapters of another. While other teams are exploring the option with more experienced players, Syracuse is assessing what it has with true freshman Demetres Samuel Jr., who is only 17 and was just 16 when he enrolled this winter.
An ESPN 300 recruit, Samuel has started Syracuse’s first two games and had eight tackles Aug. 30 against UConn. He hasn’t recorded a catch at wide receiver but is expected to have a role there.
“You can’t get down and frustrated when you don’t do well at first, you’re taking two tests, and we’re asking you to learn two things,” Brown told ESPN. “I tell him, ‘You’ve got to run. I don’t care that you just got out of that side, you’ve got to run. Up and down.’ He’s got a lot better at it lately. It takes time.”
As Minnesota and other programs decide how to divide the time for their two-way players, they must weigh what they’re gaining on offense with what they could lose on defense.
“You don’t want to do anything that starts the law of diminishing returns,” Fleck said.
Snowden and Barton were two of Utah’s most productive defenders in 2024. Barton led the Utes in tackles with 72, while Snowden had a team-high eight pass breakups. They were two of three Utah players with multiple interceptions, and each recorded a forced fumble.
Late in the season, Barton provided one of Utah’s top defensive highlights against Iowa State, catching a deflected pass, wriggling free of quarterback Rocco Becht‘s tackle attempt and then sprinting down the sideline for an 87-yard scoring return.
“My theory has always been, you master one position before you even think about playing both ways,” Whittingham said. “It’s not fair to play a guy two ways unless he has a substantial grasp of one side of the ball first. Those guys are experts at defensive play and their assignments. So really, the learning curve is on the other side.”
Minnesota’s coaches organized Perich’s schedule with efficiency in mind. Defensive coordinator Danny Collins said that Perich might get the ball thrown to him on the first play of a practice period on offense and then spend the rest of the time on defense. Or he’ll alternate between offense and defense, much like Hunter did at Colorado.
The Gophers’ depth in the secondary made the plan a bit easier to sell to Collins.
“At first, it was like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, let’s hold on: This is an All-Big Ten safety,'” Collins said. “But at the same time, he’s a tremendous athlete. When the ball is in his hands, special things are going to happen, whether he’s picking it off, whether it’s a punt return. And then you think about, ‘OK, we can put him on offense and get the ball in his hands, now that’s going to help the whole team.'”
WHEN MAPPING OUT the plan for Perich at Minnesota, Fleck watched a lot of Colorado film. His goal wasn’t necessarily to identify a direct comparison, but rather to assess how the Buffs used a distinct talent like Hunter.
“In the new world, that’s the only one you get to look at,” Fleck said of Hunter. “Like, what athlete did it besides Travis Hunter? I don’t see it being trendy, because it’s too hard to be trendy. It takes a really special athlete in a really unique situation that fits. That’s what we have in Koi.”
In his NFL debut, Hunter became the second NFL player in the past 10 years to play at least 30 offensive snaps and five defensive snaps in the same game. Whether he sparks a true trend of two-way players remains to be seen. What’s clear is he has at least cracked open the door for others to try.
Like Kill at Vanderbilt, Brown also contacted Sanders about Hunter’s workload and how he approached such an added workload.
“It’s really hard,” Brown said. “People will try to go down that road. But Coach Prime is a special guy. It takes somebody special like Travis to truly, truly do it. I think Demetres has that chance.”
Hight doesn’t need much prodding about the chance to play more on offense. When he arrived at Vanderbilt, former defensive backs coach Dan Jackson floated the possibility of him taking some snaps with the offense.
After two seasons, though, he didn’t think it was going to happen, which has made this fall even sweeter.
“Honestly, I can play all day,” he said. “I’m like an energetic ball on the field. I’m having so much fun being there with the guys. I don’t really have a number [of snaps]. I’ll go until my heart stops.”
Hight thinks the more players who show they can be reliable options on both sides of the ball will reduce teams’ reliance on the transfer portal to address specific needs, like at wide receiver. But will there be a limit on how many teams explore the two-way track?
“It’s always going to be rough because you’re playing two years of football in one,” said an assistant coach from a top 10 team. “If you’re on a team that’s actually really good, it’s hard to see a guy doing part time at a position and then be better than a guy who’s doing full time.”
Lea has often thought about Hunter since exploring a two-way role for Hight, and how much the Colorado star truly influenced Vanderbilt’s decision. Ultimately, Lea kept coming back to an enduring truth about personnel.
“We can’t afford to not have our best 11 out on the field,” he said.
All good things must come to an end. Even Mohamed Salah — the epitome of a good thing for Liverpool over the past eight-and-a-half years — cannot go on forever.
On Tuesday, the Egypt international shocked the football world by confirming he will depart Anfield at the end of the current season. But while the timing of Salah’s announcement was unexpected, the past few months have increasingly appeared to be setting the stage for his Liverpool curtain call.
After all, it was less than four months ago that serious doubt was cast over the forward’s immediate future. Following the Reds’ 3-3 draw with Leeds United, he sounded off to reporters, claiming he had been “thrown under the bus” amid the team’s poor run of form.
The situation initially seemed irretrievable — and yet, after being omitted from Liverpool’s travelling party for their subsequent trip to Inter Milan, Salah was later reintegrated into the squad.
It is a testament to his mental fortitude — and to that of head coach Arne Slot — that a civil resolution was able to be reached. Salah had once again become a nearly ever-present for Liverpool after returning from the Africa Cup of Nations in late January, before he was forced to miss the weekend’s clash with Brighton & Hove Albion with a muscle problem.
Had the 33-year-old been ushered out of the back door in the January transfer window, it would have felt like an abrupt and unbecoming end to one of the all-time great Liverpool careers. Now, supporters have the opportunity to give Salah the farewell he deserves.
“I never imagined how deeply this club, this city, these people would become part of my life,” Salah said in an emotional video posted to his social media accounts on Tuesday.
The feeling, it is safe to say, is mutual.
Since joining the club from AS Roma in 2017, the forward has emphatically carved his name into the annals of Anfield history. He is third on the club’s all-time leading goalscorer list, having netted a staggering 255 times in 435 appearances.
Salah has won eight major trophies, including two Premier League titles and the UEFA Champions League in 2019. During his time on Merseyside, he has registered 189 goals and 92 assists in the Premier League — the highest number of goal contributions managed by any player for one club in the competition’s history.
His brilliance is so great that it now seems he cannot step onto the pitch without sending another record tumbling. And yet his impact is such that it cannot and should not simply be distilled into matches played and trophies won.
Over the past nine years, Salah has become a cultural phenomenon. To a generation, he is Liverpool Football Club, with his importance extending far beyond the realms of the sport itself. In 2019, the Egypt international was featured on the cover of TIME Magazine, having been named among the most 100 influential people in the world.
In 2020, he was honoured with a wax statue at London’s Madame Tussauds. In 2021, a study in the American Political Science Review determined Salah’s transfer to Liverpool had led to a 16% reduction in hate crimes in the city, as well as reducing Islamophobic online rhetoric.
There is barely a corner of Merseyside that is not in some way marked by the Liverpool forward, whether that be with an elaborate piece of street art or by the sight of a child with his name emblazoned on the back of their shirt. He has become woven into the tapestry of the region, and his legacy will endure long after he says his Anfield farewells.
From a football perspective, Salah’s impending exit leaves Liverpool with a huge void to fill. The Egyptian has failed to live up to his own impossibly high standards this term — his current tally of 10 goals in 34 games puts him on course for his least productive season in a red shirt — and yet it is still almost impossible to imagine Liverpool without him.
From a financial perspective, the move has both positive and negative repercussions for the club.
Sources have told ESPN Salah will leave on a free transfer, despite him having only signed a new two-year deal last April. While the agreement reached with Liverpool means the club will not be able to recoup a significant transfer fee this summer, his early exit will unburden them from paying his astronomical weekly wages next season, freeing up vital capital to help continue the Reds’ rebuild.
Most poignantly, though, Salah’s departure is perhaps the biggest sign yet that the sun is setting on what was a golden era for the club under previous manager Jürgen Klopp. While he is not the first of Klopp’s most favoured lieutenants to leave Anfield, he is irrefutably the most high-profile, and next season will provide the opportunity for a new face to take over the role of Liverpool’s main man.
Salah, though, is not quite done yet. With Liverpool battling to secure European qualification and through to the quarterfinals of both the Champions League and FA Cup, the season is still very much alive and Reds supporters will hope their long-time talisman is poised to go out on a high.
Should Liverpool defy expectations to clinch a trophy or two in the coming months, it would certainly be an ending fit for an Egyptian King.
We had one final weekend of European league action before the international break (in which the final spots will be clinched for this summer’s World Cup) and, well, it was a doozy, delivering plenty for us to talk about. Let’s begin with the English Carabao Cup final, where Manchester City outsmarted and outdueled the favorites, Arsenal, to settle the first trophy both sides are battling for. Either way, the game was a reality check for both as they prepare for the home stretch in their Premier League title battle.
Spain‘s LaLiga was highlighted by Sunday’s Madrid derby, which saw five lovely goals and Alvaro Arbeloa’s Real Madrid come out on top 3-2 over Diego Simeone and Atletico Madrid. Barcelona remain top of LaLiga with a four-point lead thanks to their 1-0 win over Rayo Vallecano, but the title race is finely poised.
Elsewhere, we have talking points galore around Chelsea (has Liam Rosenior been set up to fail?), Bayern Munich (who rolled to another big win despite a heavily rotated team … scary), Inter Milan (who dropped points to open Serie A‘s title race a little), Liverpool (who looked dreadful vs. Brighton), Tottenham (who lost their relegation six-pointer) and much, much more.
It’s Monday morning, so what better time for some musings? Let’s get into it.
– City beat Arsenal in Carabao Cup, so is Premier League title race not over?
– Ogden: Tottenham hurtling toward relegation after limp loss to Forest
– Lindop: Where is the real Liverpool? Inconsistency defines their season
Carabao Cup final is a reality check for both Man City and Arsenal
Once the elation for the trophy — pump those brakes because it’s the League Cup, and Pep Guardiola already had four of them in his trophy cabinet — the main value of Sunday afternoon is as a health check for the Premier League run-in and, in Arsenal’s case, the Champions’ League knockouts.
Man City are nine points back, with a game in hand and — crucially — a head-to-head tie at the Etihad on April 19. For them to have a shot at the Premier League, they will almost certainly need to win both.
Arsenal were hugely disappointing at Wembley, far more than the 2-0 scoreline suggests. After the early Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka chances (credit James Trafford there), their expected goals after the 12th minute was a paltry 0.26 against a back four missing its two best defenders (Rúben Dias, Josko Gvardiol). The trope that this season’s version of the team is less of a footballing side (as in possession, movement, patterns of play, chance creation, where they’re fourth in the league) than a water-tight defending, transitions and set piece side might be a cliché, but it’s accurate.
And so, when you miss your early opportunity to score, when you get just three corner kicks in the whole game (half as many as your average), and when your keeper makes a mistake leading to the opener just past the hour mark, it’s going to be very difficult to turn things around. Particularly when your most gifted player (yes, it’s still Bukayo Saka in my book) has a quiet game and you struggle mightily to impose your football on the game.
1:52
Burley brands Arsenal an ‘absolute disgrace’ for Carabao Cup performance
Craig Burley slams Arsenal for their approach to the Carabao Cup final after a 2-0 defeat to Manchester City.
The absences of Martin Odegaard and Eberechi Eze (and Mikel Merino, frankly) in attacking midfield weigh heavily here — particularly since the stand-in, Havertz, has hardly played in that role for the past two and a half seasons. Jurriën Timber being out doesn’t help either, nor does picking Piero Hincapié over Riccardo Calafiori at left back. But it’s more the ethos and mindset of Arsenal this season that is less creative and technical than before. It’s vindicated by the fact they’re top of the Premier League and still on track for a domestic/European treble, but it comes at the expense of being able to react in situations like these, against opponents like this.
As for City, you can only praise the reaction after the disappointing draw at West Ham and the Champions League defeats to Real Madrid. They were a bit fortunate with both goals, but they were in control throughout and Guardiola’s decision to put his faith in Rayan Cherki (a no-brainer in my view, but lest we forget, he had started just three of seven league and Champions League matches going into the final) was vindicated. Abdukodir Khusanov had Viktor Gyökeres (17 touches in 90-plus minutes, just two of them in the City box, no shots) in his pocket all game long, both fullbacks were impactful and Trafford showed no nerves between the posts. It’s a weird thing to say, but it didn’t matter that Erling Haaland was shut down, barring that one shot.
From here on out, much will depend on how the two managers spin the reaction to the game.
0:59
Should Arteta have started Raya over Kepa vs. Man City?
ESPN FC’s Janusz Michallik reacts to Manchester City beating Arsenal 2-0 in the Carabao Cup final.
Having fiddled with formations and approaches all season long, I think this setup — despite perhaps conceding a little bit in the pressing game — simply works for Guardiola, obviously with the return of Ruben Dias when he’s fit again. With no Champions League football to worry about, it’s pretty much plug-and-play ahead of the head-to-head with Arsenal, and the fact they have two marquee opponents in the immediate buildup (Liverpool in the FA Cup quarterfinals, Chelsea away in the league) is a bonus in terms of maintaining focus.
You assume Arteta will have Odegaard fit again after the break (though we’ve heard this before) but he’s unlikely, given the season he’s had thus far, to be an instant fix. One of the trickiest decisions coaches can be asked to make at this stage of what is (lest we forget) a hugely successful campaign is what, if any, changes to make after a defeat. Do you chalk it up to a bad day? Or do you tweak what has been a winning formula?
There are lessons to be learned, but very little time to implement them. That’s what Arteta will be thinking about over the international break.
Time to praise Alvaro Arbeloa: Brave choices are rewarded
2:22
Marcotti: Arbeloa is getting the best out of Vinícius Júnior
Gab Marcotti and Stewart Robson react to Real Madrid’s 3-2 win over Atletico Madrid in LaLiga.
I’ve been hard on him, mainly because the results weren’t great, the football wasn’t great, he seemed out of his depth and the safety-first-and-wait-for-Vini-or-Kylian-Mbappe-to-do-something approach was maddening. But he gets a tip of the cap for what we saw from Real Madrid in Sunday’s 3-2 derby win.
Make no mistake about it: Real could have dropped points. The Dávid Hancko on Brahim Díaz penalty, converted by Vinícius Júnior, looked harsh and if Julián Álvarez‘s stunning finish had arced a smidgen more to the right, this game could have gone the other way. But when you factor in the goal-line clearances from Giuliano Simeone, Federico Valverde hitting the crossbar and the fact that Vinícius stepped up big time, it’s evident Real Madrid fully deserved the win.
Arbeloa resisted the temptation to chuck Kylian Mbappé straight back in after his 22 minutes against Manchester City; he put his faith in Dani Carvajal and Fran García and, at 11 vs. 11 in the second half, limited Atleti to just one shot on target (Nahuel Molina‘s wonder-strike). Most of all, he’s getting the very best out of a devastating Vinícius, something Xabi Alonso was unable to do.
2:00
Will Real Madrid’s comeback spark a LaLiga title push?
Luis Garcia reacts to Real Madrid’s comeback win over rivals Atletico Madrid in LaLiga.
Real Madrid are still chasing, of course, but to come from behind and be the better side in a game like this, after the City clashes in the UEFA Champions League and without relying on Thibaut Courtois‘ routine miracles (because he’s injured … Andriy Lunin was in goal) is significant.
As for Atleti, they played with freedom more than with vigor, and that’s understandable. Diego Simeone will never admit it, but it’s OK if their minds are focused on the two seasonal trophies they can still win: the Champions League and the Copa del Rey. They’re not getting into the LaLiga title race and their top-four spot is secure. In some ways, that freedom can make them even more dangerous and creative: Witness the Giuliano backheel to set up Ademola Lookman‘s goal, or the improbable howitzer Molina unloaded to briefly make it 2-2.
Liam Rosenior has been left cleaning up someone else’s mess…
1:21
Hislop: Liam Rosenior’s Chelsea future is in danger
Shaka Hislop and Steve Nicol debate Liam Rosenior’s future after Chelsea’s 3-0 loss to Everton in the Premier League.
… and I’m genuinely not sure whether he’s part (a small part) of the problem or part of the solution, because the folks who put this Chelsea team together (co-directors of football, Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart) haven’t explained what they’re trying to do or why they felt Rosenior was an upgrade over Enzo Maresca when they appointed him in January.
Saturday’s 3-0 defeat at Everton makes it four on the spin in all competitions. They’re sixth in the Premier League table, one point off the Champions League places because Liverpool lost, but there are four teams separated by three points vying for one slot, and that’s not a comfortable place to be. Rosenior has won 10 of 19 games since his appointment, which looks impressive until you realize that three were against lower-league opposition, one was against Pafos, and two were against sides in the relegation zone. Another was against a Crystal Palace side that hadn’t won in eight league games. What does that leave? Aston Villa away, Brentford at home and an injury-riddled Napoli away.
Spells of pretty football, like they showed against Paris Saint-Germain, don’t make up for the reality that this is a poorly constructed side. Or that neither Filip Jorgensen nor Robert Sánchez look able to do what he wants them to do in goal. Or that the constant churn of center backs is unhelpful. Or that having built a squad based on genuine wingers — presumably that was the recruitment plan, otherwise they wouldn’t have added Estêvão, Jamie Gittens and Alejandro Garnacho in one go — they’ve done a handbrake turn under Rosenior shifting Cole Palmer wide and sticking another central midfielder in there.
He doesn’t help himself with some of his decisions, but make no mistake about it: Rosenior is being asked to clean up someone else’s mess.
Quick hits
2:42
Kane reflects on Bayern Munich’s ‘really good’ win over Union Berlin
Harry Kane reacts to Bayern Munich’s 4-0 win over Union Berlin in the Bundesliga.
10. Bayern Munich go direct and absolutely level 1. FC Union Berlin: The thing about Bayern this season isn’t just that they’re deep, pedigreed and boast this year’s likely Golden Shoe winner in Harry Kane. It’s that they can beat you in many different ways. Saturday’s opponents, Union Berlin, aren’t much to watch, but they’re solidly midtable and can pack the box with the best of them.
Faced with the prospect of a ton of possession at home and plenty of human density separating them from the opposing goal, Bayern boss Vincent Kompany opted for directness rather than patient, intricate passing. The upshot is they won 4-0, hit the woodwork twice and racked up 5.53 expected goals, while limiting Union to one shot on target. All this with five starters out (plus Nicolas Jackson suspended), which is pretty scary.
9. Dro Fernández makes it 100 goals for PSG against Nice: It took them a while to break through because Khvicha Kvaratskhelia‘s shooting boots weren’t quite right, and the penalty that broke the ice towards the end of the first half was a bit generous, but PSG handily outclassed Nice away to go back on top of Ligue 1. The 4-0 win — against an opponent whose last home win was in October and is fighting to avoid relegation — looks gaudier than it was (Nice went down to 10 men early in the second half), but PSG did what they had to do post-Champions League with aplomb.
Along the way, they scored their 100th goal in all competitions, courtesy of substitute Fernandez. The 18-year-old, picked up for a song in January (€8 million due to a release clause and the fact he wouldn’t extend his Barcelona contract) was a La Masia crown jewel, drawing comparisons with Andres Iniesta. Time will tell whether he lives up to the hype or goes down the path of previous La Masia prodigies such as Riqui Puig or Carles Alena, but his departure from Barca still raises questions. However hard a bargain his people were driving, it feels counterintuitive to throw money at Marcus Rashford or Roony Bardghji when this guy was coming through.
8. Are AC Milan learning their lesson?: The narrative around Milan all season long has been that Max Allegri is a genius for getting so much production and toughness out of Luka Modric and Adrien Rabiot. That, and the usual stuff about being tough and uncompromising because they get outplayed but “find a way to win.” Regular readers will know I think that’s a bunch of nonsense. Yeah, Modric and Rabiot have been exceptional; when you play once a week, it’s a lot easier to excel at their age. As for getting outplayed, that’s never a good thing.
There are signs, however, that even Allegri recognizes this, and that’s a good thing. Against Torino on Saturday, they played a wretched first half (0.2 xG at home tell their own story), taking the lead through a long-range Strahinja Pavlovic effort and then conceding on a defensive blunder. Standard operating procedure for Allegri would have been to just continue, keep it tight and hope for something positive to happen. This time, however, he was proactive: He sent on a high-energy winger (21-year-old Zachary Athekame), switched to a back four, got his players to commit to attack and was rewarded with two team goals en route to a 3-2 win. Better late than never, you might say.
7. Redemption for Ramy Bensebaini in Borussia Dortmund‘s comeback: The Algeria defender had made just one start since that game against Atalanta in Europe, when he endured one of the worst nights a professional footballer can endure (and was partly and largely responsible for four conceded goals). On Saturday, he came on at halftime for young Luca Reggiani (who has having the sort of game Bensebaini had in Bergamo), steadied the ship defensively and bagged two penalties as Dortmund scored three times in the last 17 minutes to beat Hamburg SV 3-2.
It was the sort of up-and-down performance to which Dortmund has us accustomed (still, that 4.08 xG in the second half looks gaudy), but the win keeps them well on track for second place. With little left to play for, there’s only so much you can ask of this team. Still, head coach Nico Kovac felt the need to send on the departing Julian Brandt at the end of time added on. It felt pointless; you hope it wasn’t puerile message-sending, and that he at least gets an appearance bonus.
6. It’s the center forward blues as Juventus drop points: Strange but true. Juventus’ squad for the visit of Sassuolo included four center forwards. Summer singings Loïs Openda and Jonathan David as well as holdovers Dusan Vlahovic (out since November) and Arkadiusz Milik (out since June 2024 … yes, you read that right). All four were on the bench, as Luciano Spalletti opted to start a winger like Jérémie Boga up front instead.
That’s sort of a snapshot of where Juve are right now: two free agents-to-be returning after long layoffs (Vlahovic and Milik), and two big signings who don’t have the coach’s trust (Openda and David, who didn’t come on at all). They needed three points at home against a small club that has achieved its version of success this year (midtable) and couldn’t get over the line, because, after scoring early, they stopped being dangerous and paid a price for an individual error on the Sassuolo equalizer. Manuel Locatelli‘s missed penalty did the rest, but the save was poetic justice given what an absurdity of a call it was in the first place. The race for top four is alive, but Spalletti has plenty to figure out over this international break.
1:05
Nicol: Man United should have been awarded 2nd penalty vs. Bournemouth
Steve Nicol and Shaka Hislop disagree over the decision not to award Man United a second penalty against Bournemouth.
5. Manchester United make a formal complaint … but why? I understand why Michael Carrick was so angry (though he used the term “baffled”) after Manchester United’s 2-2 draw at AFC Bournemouth on Friday. Like him, I thought Adrien Truffert‘s pull on Amad Diallo merited a penalty. (Though, unlike him, I’m not sure that was similar to the penalty Harry Maguire conceded later.) The fact that after the no-call, Bournemouth went up the pitch and scored obviously made things worse and had a material impact on the outcome.
I’m not sure what a “formal complaint” to the referees’ association will achieve. They’re not going to re-referee the game, and at best, they’ll suggest that if the penalty had been given, it would not have been overturned. It simply wasn’t — in their view — a “clear and obvious” error. They already know United are unhappy with the decision. If, privately, Howard Webb and his evaluators feel referee Stuart Attwell and VAR Craig Pawson screwed up, they’ll talk to them. Beyond that, there’s not much they can do. So why ratchet up the pressure like this?
4. Battle-weary Inter draw in Florence, shrinking their Serie A lead to six points: Inter’s 1-1 draw on Sunday makes it three straight games without a win in the league, smashing whatever notion we may have had that the humiliation against Bodo/Glimt would have led to an Inter side locked in on the Serie A title. Against Fiorentina, they scored straight away with Pio Esposito (him again) and tried to manage the game, unsuccessfully, as it turned out.
Christian Chivu is getting a lot of criticism this morning, but I’m not ready to go Chicken Little. Getting outhustled by a side that played on Thursday night isn’t a great look, but it’s worth remembering Fiorentina are fighting to avoid relegation and are more talented than the league table suggests. Starting players who are returning from injury like Denzel Dumfries and Hakan Calhanoglu will result in less short-term fitness and intensity, but will, Chivu hopes, pay dividends after the international break. Inter remain on track for the double. It might be good to remind themselves of this.
1:21
What’s behind Liverpool’s drop-off from last season?
Gab Marcotti and Stewart Robson speak after Liverpool’s 2-1 loss to Brighton in the Premier League.
3. Galatasaray was a blip, because Liverpool haven’t turned the corner: That 4-0 hammering in the Champions League evidently had more to do with Galatasaray’s frailty than Arne Slot’s progress. And judging by what we saw in Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion, Liverpool are closer to what they were the week before against Tottenham Hotspur, or away to Wolverhampton Wanderers. Which is: not good.
Mohamed Salah was unavailable (but how much of a factor is that really, when he seems to be a favorite scapegoat for the side’s failures this season?) and more importantly, they lost Hugo Ekitike to injury after eight minutes. But that doesn’t explain the ineptitude, particularly in a second half that saw them take just four shots for a combined xG of 0.21. Slot brought up the lunch-time kickoff after a Wednesday night game, but that was at home. Fatigue is an issue, and that’s down to the way this squad was built. Ibrahima Konaté and Virgil van Dijk were poor, sure, and they had three different right backs in the first half alone. But that’s not all on Slot. As we’ve pointed out before, they’re down three defenders after failing to address it in January, and now they’re paying the price. Ten defeats in 31 games is something we hadn’t seen since the Brendan Rodgers era. That they’re still in the hunt for the Champions League has more to do with the shortcomings of others than any real progress this season.
2:51
Were Barcelona lucky to beat Rayo Vallecano?
The ‘ESPN FC’ crew react to Barcelona beating Rayo Vallecano 1-0 in LaLiga.
2. Barcelona look ready for the international break: As in, maybe some time away will help them regain their senses and realize what it takes to win LaLiga. Because Sunday’s 1-0 win over Rayo Vallecano was a compendium of everything that’s wrong with the team and should be a wakeup call to coach Hansi Flick. (No, I’m not holding my breath … are you?)
Rayo played well, but if not for a few huge Joan García stops (vs. Carlos Martín, Unai López and Álvaro García) they would have lost this game. Some of it was down to the usual “high line” hijinks, some of it was down to Rayo looking far sharper (which is odd, because they played Thursday), some of it was down to the fact that a back four that includes Gerard Martín, João Cancelo and Ronald Araújo (though he did score the only goal) will struggle to be watertight.
Complacency? Fatigue? Who knows? But at this stage of the season, Flick shouldn’t be taking things for granted.
0:54
Robson: Tottenham should sack Tudor after loss to Nottingham Forest
Gab Marcotti and Stewart Robson discuss Tottenham’s 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest in the Premier League.
1. Tottenham back to bad, old ways in relegation battle head-to-head: It was set up so nicely for them. For the previous three halves of football — the second 45 against Liverpool and the home tie against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League — Spurs had actually looked good and (just as important) looked as if they believed they were good. Their fans greeted them as if it was a cup final for the visit of Nottingham Forest.
But once they stepped on the pitch, the usual demons quickly resurfaced. They played with fear and switched off just before the break and at the hour mark, as Forest went 2-0 up (Taiwo Awoniyi would add another later in a 3-0 result). Fans started to leave, confidence dropped, chances were missed. I don’t know if Igor Tudor, who missed the postgame media activities due to a family bereavement, will be back after the international break, but I want to believe that the one and a half games against Liverpool and Atleti at home were more meaningful than Sunday.
Mohamed Salah, one of Liverpool’s greatest-ever players and the driving force behind the club’s modern era of success, will leave Anfield at the end of the season.
The Egyptian forward, whose goals, durability, and iconic moments helped deliver two Premier Leagues, the Champions League, and a host of other major trophies, confirmed his departure in an emotional video on his social media accounts on Tuesday.
“Unfortunately the day has come. This is the first part of my farewell,” Salah said. “I will be leaving Liverpool at the end of the season.
“I never imagined how deeply this club, this city, these people, would become part of my life,” the 33-year-old added.
“Liverpool is not just a football club, it’s a passion, it’s a history, it’s a spirit. I can’t explain in words to anyone not part of this club. We celebrated victory, we won the most important trophies, and we fought together through the hardest time in our life.”
Signed from AS Roma in 2017, Salah established himself as one of the best players in the club’s history, helping Liverpool to two Premier League titles, the Champions League, FIFA Club World Cup, UEFA Super Cup, FA Cup and two League Cups, as well as a Community Shield.
Third-highest goalscorer
He has scored 255 goals in 435 appearances, making him the club’s all-time third-highest goalscorer, just behind Ian Rush and Roger Hunt, while he has won the Premier League Golden Boot on four occasions.
“Salah expressed his wish to make this announcement to the supporters at the earliest possible opportunity to provide transparency about his future due to his respect and gratitude for them,” the club said in a statement.
Salah came into this season on the back of a 2024/25 campaign that was widely regarded as one of the finest individual seasons in league history.
He scored 29 Premier League goals and made 18 assists in 38 matches, equalling the league record for most goal involvements in a single season while setting the record for a 38-game campaign.
He was named Premier League Player of the Season and won the Golden Boot and Playmaker Award, becoming the first player to win all three in a single campaign.
But this season has been markedly different. He has struggled for form from the outset and endured lengthy stretches of games without scoring.
Benched for key matches
His slump saw him benched for several key matches, including Champions League fixtures, as his confidence and influence waned.
The on‑field struggles were later compounded by a public flare‑up with Liverpool boss Arne Slot.
In early December, after being left out for the third straight match, Salah accused the club of “throwing me under the bus” and suggested that his relationship with Slot had broken down. He was linked to a potential big-money move to Saudi Arabia.
Slot later attempted to downplay the rift, but the episode underscored just how strained things had become during a season in which Salah, long a defining presence at Anfield, found himself out of favour.
A recent improvement in form saw him score a jaw-dropping goal in Liverpool’s 4-0 win over Galatasaray last week in their Champions League last-16 tie, Salah’s 50th in Europe’s elite club competition.
Salah, the “Egyptian King”, is beloved by fans, whose affection is reflected vividly in the many murals, mostly depictions of Salah’s signature goal celebrations, that have coloured the streets around Anfield.
“Leaving is never easy,” Salah said. “You gave me the best time of my life, I will be always one of you. This club will always be my home to me and to my family. Thank you for everything. Because of all of you, I will never walk alone.”
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